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Why the hell do people have the lights on during the day?!?!
Dear Arianna,
You looked beautiful on TV last night during your interview.. I must tell you you are HOT right now, and you are there in controversy of thoughts. It's useless information unles you let your soul guide you.
Here's a song I dedicate to you from Sting;
Video Let Your Soul Guide You
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2163884
She's got a good doctor.
Stossel flashes a couple of simpistic charts and claims the poor are better off?
Real wages haven't gone up in 30 years, gas at nearly four bucks a gallon and millions of manufacturing jobs have gone abroad and the poor re just rolling in it, right?
The man's smarmy tone and arrogance never let a contrary thought into his smug litte head. At least Arianna stuck to her guns.
Good lord!
Anyone with a contrary opinion certainly pisses you folks off, doesn't it?
I'll bet you'd love to throw a pie in his face or drag him out and beat his ass.
Redrover666,
Stossel did not back up his opinion with any facts. A jagged line on a simple chart is not proof. Anyone can have an opinion. Unsubstantiated opinons are worthless and they should be challenged.
"I'll bet you'd love to throw a pie in his face or drag him out and beat his ass."
Gee, redrover666 ... project much?
Many of you are skeptical about the data. But the numbers are straight from the U.S. Census Bureau. See pages 47 and 48 of http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/p60-233.pdf for the income data. They do take into account the cost of living, which has not gone up faster than wages in the long run.
The poverty threshold is also indexed to the cost of living, to keep it the same in real terms - it has not been lowered. The poverty statistics are on page 19 of the census report.
The workplace injuries data are from the National Safety Council. The raw data is not directly available online, but it was also graphed by this think tank: http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?Code=MPR1997-01-04
But the goal is having *nobody* living in poverty in America! Arianna was correct that the argument that we used to live in caves doesn't justify the current conditions.
The goal may very well be that no one live in poverty, however, unless we provide everyone with a welfare check that's never going to happen.
Lydon Johnson tried that in the sixties. Today, those groups that most took advantage of the program now have a 70% rate of illegitimacy, 50% dropout rate and there are more on welfare now than were then.
Poverty gap in US has widened under Bush
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
February 2007
The number of Americans living in severe poverty has expanded dramatically under the Bush administration, with nearly 16 million people now living on an individual income of less than $5,000 a year or a family income of less than $10,000, according to an analysis of 2005 official census data.
The analysis, by the McClatchy newspapers, showed that the number of people living in extreme poverty had grown by 26 per cent since 2000. Poverty as a whole has worsened, but the number of severe poor is growing 56 per cent faster than the overall segment of the population characterised as poor - about 37 million people in all according to census data. That represents more than 10 per cent of the US population, which recently surpassed 300 million.
The widening of the income gap between haves and have-nots is nothing new in America - it has been going on steadily since the late 1970s. What is new is the rapid increase in numbers at the bottom of the socio-economic pile. The numbers of severely poor have increased faster than any other segment of the population.
"That was the exact opposite of what we anticipated when we began," Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University said. " What we're seeing is a dramatic growth of severe poverty."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/poverty-gap-in-us-has-widened-under-bush-438077.html
I wish John Stoessel had asked AH if she was paying taxes yet (there for a while she wasn't) I have a real problem with rich liberals that say we should have higher taxes and then find every way possible to get out of paying them. They want other people to pay higher taxes but not them. Read the book "Do As I Say (Not As I Do) Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" by Peter Schweizer.
That's called Tax Avoidance. The IRS tells you to do it.
For Schweizer, he probably should have made the book about politicians in general, otherwise, cherry picking abound.
Kinda got off the subject, Hey?
The right wing does not have a "lunatic fringe." It has a lunatic center.
You're correct. The right wing *is* a lunatic fringe. They're not called reich-wing-moonbats for nothing.
I want you to reread your comment and the one above it.
Now turn off your computer and go to bed, tomorrow is a school day and you have stayed up way too late.
The slur for right wing is "wingnut." "Moonbat" is a slur for lefties.
Your phrase would better read as "reich-wingnuts." Try it out. You'll like it better.
Why did Arianna consent to be interviewed by this tool? She allowed herself to be portrayed as a "loony lefty" by a member of the MSM that she rightly blames for allowing the neocons to hijack public policy and be held virtually unaccountable. I don't get it. It's like she jumped on the scorpion's back for a ride and got stung...
Funny how the left does not condemn anyone on the far, lunatic left! Basically the equivalent of the far, lunatic right! Other than FOX that is.
I just got done watching the segment and John Stossel once again used bad government statistics. I just wish Ms. Huffington could have confronted him on his stat sources, it made her look like she was grabbing for answers.
The governments "inflation rate" is false, just look into how they come up with their number. Easy to find on the internet.
Also the poverty stats are FALSE. Again easily researched. I think she should write an article refuting his premises.
There was a time we could reasonably trust the information the government was giving us, now we can't. They've become a propaganda machine.
I haven't read all the posts here, but has anybody pointed out that the chart Stossel waved menacingly at Arianna seemed to show "minimum income" DROPPING during Dubya's years? It was hard to make out the time scale, but it seemed to be over decades. The last 2 inches (which *look* like since 2001) are all down with a bit of level at the end. Maybe that's since the Dems took Congress. Even considering how little they've fought back, didn't they get a minimum wage increase? Somebody should confront Stossel with some REAL analysis of the figures.
Not only that, but after Bush leaves office, we're going to find out this regime was cooking the books in many ways the whole time. Watch it come to the surface.
I'm sure if a democrat wins, then they will cook the books to ensure it looks as though Bush cooked the books. Just watch it come to the surface! I mean, who would suspect a democrat of lying while in office?
Well, let's see if she writes that article.
I dare her.
She says "I'm a conservative", but not neoconservative.
People, her policies look like they fall right in line with the most qualified person for the job.
And that is RON PAUL.
People have been so conditioned to think one way, that the message Ron Paul tells is seen as too progressive or not believable. MSM creates their own reality, as seen how they wiped RP off the face of the earth. Something never seen, or done before, for a presidential candidate.
And his policies have become "kooky", even though they are the most sound policies of government that this country really needs right now. It just doesn't happen right now. Nor will it for the next four years.
They are owned by people that shape that lunitic fringe policy you get.
The Ron Paul movement is very much alive. It could be the perfect storm.
I agree with Ron Paul on many issues but his followers need to understand that he is not going to be President. The Ron Paul movement is strong in Minnesota because we have a bunch of liberals here that are taxing people right out of the state. They are shifting their focus to winning local offices and I think it's a great idea.
The Ron Paul "movement." That's just funny. You can't possibly believe little bitty Ron Paul has any chance of becoming the President. Seriously get a grip!
Stossel is right, the right is right. Everything is splendid. The free market is good and government is bad. Bla bla bla. Meanwhile back at America's farm, the farm that's being foreclosed on, we're packing for the third Guard deployment to Iraq but getting to the Armory will be tough at $4 a gallon for gas. Splendid.
Was that the point of the interview?
Stossel knows nothing about how real Americans live. He is probably a robot programmed by Karl Rove anyway.
To illustrate how bankrupt you right wing nuts are....
Well, Ms. Huffington, while not a condemnation, it is fair to point out that you yourself could personally do more to have a smaller carbon foot print, without going to unreasonable lengths to do so.
One of the nice things about having an unusual amount of money is having the resources to do the things that you want to. Once you have experience with what an individual can do to go "green", you will be able to advocate more responsibly, perhaps.
Please keep on speaking your mind. Even when I do not agree with you, I enjoy thinking about what you say.
See, there you go. That's what MSM wants you to get out of that interview. Who likes to see foreclosure signs up all over her neighborhood, just because some greedy people that drove deregulation and policies so to it, to make a devilish amount of money off the backs of you know who, her neighbors, your neighbors, the middle-class. And ruining the economy to boot!
This Strossel shill tries to get off the actual points of the interview.
It's incredible what you see evolve when these right-wing shills try to slant or change the interview to their agenda. It's pure 1984.
But, what's scarey is what you got out of the whole thing. I got Arrianna doing well in trying to tell YOU what is/has been happening while you enjoy your middle-class living...... For now......
I'm middle-class too, but I know what's happening.
Absurd. You give her a free pass only because she is a far left wing leader. If Karl Rove were preaching global warming and living in a mansion and flying on private planes you would be irrate at the hypocrisy. Look, Stossel embarrassed Arianna on national television. I can understand that this is difficult for many of you, but you should at least appreciate the logic of it.
I decided to take a second look at Stossel's charts. Contrary to what he presented, workplace deaths are rising. Check it out for yourself.
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0005.pdf
Take a third look.
The very next chart in the series you have noted, points out "The rate of fatal work injuries in 2006 was 4.0 fatalities per 100,000 workers, which was consistent with the rate of 4 of the last 5 years." The lowest rate in the range of years indicated by your chart.
In other words... more workers, more fatalities, at a lower rate. Stossel was right.
Take a fourth look.
The chart you're referring to shows declines during the Clinton years, then a plateau during the keep-our-government-regulators-underfunded-and-incompetent Bush years.
As for Stossel's chart, remember that workplace safety has been a consistent liberal issue since the 30's, and many regulations, government agencies, famous lawsuits in response to scandalous workplace disasters, and government encouraged improvements in workplace technology and training have arisen during those years. OSHA is just one recent important government effort among very many.
Workplace safety as a liberal issue has a complex and inspiring history. Along with general suffrage and civil rights, it's one of the great achievements of a democracy.
I don't think it's a secret that 20/20 is an investigative news program. As such, complaining that Arianna was subjected to "gotcha" questions, is bit surprising or maybe even a little disingenuous..
If Arianna wanted a friendly, fawning and admiring chat, she would do well to stick with the View or CNN. Apparently she appeared on 20/20 of her own free will and felt she was up to the challenge.
Additionally, it's fair to say that either she or her positions simply failed to stand up under scrutiny and that aggressively attacking 20/20 and John Stossel here, is the predictable consequence.
Yes, we will let you be in charge of what is or is not fair. One can tell you have significant compassion for others.
Seems you have spent thousands of words blathering about that nasty, mean old Stossel.
Sorry if I interrupted you rants.
If personal attacks and condescension pass as "gotcha" questions, then you are spot on.
But Mr. Stossel's argument that living in a $7MM home undermines her credibility, just shows that he's an idiot. He dodged responding to the points she was making, and replied with personal attacks. By doing so, he reveals himself to a spokesman for the lunatic fringe Ms. Huffington was talking about.
Ms. Huffington is clearly motivated by compassion for others. Mr. Stossel is clearly driven to support a corporate, profit-driven agenda from which he certainly benefits. His BS welfare stats were scarcely believable.
I have no personal loyalty or affection for either.
However, I am fascinated at the anger and hatred of this journalist and the fawning love and admiration for Huff. There is something almost religious going on here.
I have noticed that any criticism of her results in bitter anger and strings of gibbering and often stupid insults.
When Stossel took her to task for living in a $7 million home that is "burning more carbon than 100 people in the Third World" even while complaining about the carbon production of others contributing to global warming, Huffington responded:
"There is no question that the fact that I'm living in a big house, I occasionally travel on private planes, all those things are a contradiction. I'm not setting myself up as some paragon who only goes around on a bicycle and lives by candlelight."
Hypocrite!
I don't think so. You live nice. You see foreclosure signs going up around you. But, you live nice and don't say a word.
That's not being hyprocit. I'm sorry. Arrianna is not like Bill Gates.
It's the policies that are enabling these lunatic fringe to further their agenda, which is not good for this country, or the Republican party. The bulk of these conservative repubs took in McCain, instead of embracing their very values that got them to the pinnacle of power by going with Paul. It was all a fraud. A fraud for what you see now. And we are one election away from possible doom.
Their view of their party and their particular direction can be called "fatalistic" at best. And I don't know why they want it that way. We have no more money. For even where we're at right now, let alone the "baby boomer" effect coming to roost.
This is the first time you have noticed that rich liberals are the ones that want you to change while they do the more of the same?
yeah..no. I don't think that she is a Hypocrite. Her carbon footprint is probably smaller than most americans, if you calculate her ENTIRE carbon footprint from when she was living in Greece as a poor girl. I'm pretty sure that she didn't rip it up on dirtbikes or build go-carts or model airplanes or burn bon fires or light fireworks off when she was a kid. We americans have a HUGE carbon footprint. Even though she married into money and now lives in a big mansion..think of the whole picture. Most Americans have burnt more carbon in their teen years than this woman has burnt her entire life.
Let me be brutally honest about what I saw in those clips.
I get the impression that Ms. Huffington went into that interview thinking she was going to discuss The Huffington Post, its readership and her latest book. Mr. Stossel, on the other hand, wanted to play "Gotcha!"
It's obvious to me that Ms. Huffington was unprepared for the questions Mr. Stossel asked, as her answers DID come across as rather lame. Sorry to say that, but that's my impression. (Of course, that may also be due to the hatchet job ABC did on editing her replies.)
The moral of the story here is: always, always, ALWAYS assume any pre-taped interview with the MSM is going to be a hatchet job, and they will always, always, ALWAYS ambush you with "Gotcha!"-type questions, then edit your replies to make you look bad. Be prepared for this tactic. Be sure to bring a volume of notes or better yet, a laptop with internet access. It's unfair for him to expect you to know every government statistic right off the top of your head.
And that's just my take.
And you're right. And Stossel serves those who sign his checks.
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Huffington Post
First Posted: 04-25-08 11:27 PM | Updated: 05- 3-08 05:12 AM